How can I find/detect where the loop/wire is broken?

This is a electric pet system where the wire is buried under ground (~6 inches), starting from the transmitter and is looped around your yard as a boundary line back to the transmitter. The transmitter sends a coded digital FM radio signal through the boundary wire and is picked up by the pet's collar when the pet gets too close to the boundary. I know I have a break because of the indications on the transmitter. It's very expensive to have the company send a rep out to find the break. I tried using a transistor radio with no luck. Then I have to fix the wire once I find it...yikes!

4 Soluções

Let me start by saying it ain't easy finding a break in a broken wire without the proper tool and your professional DogWatcch dealer has the tool. I'm just saying! :-)

You may have some luck with that radio but before you try there are some things you need to do to your transmitter. Take it off the wall and flip it over. You will a small rectangle in the back with some switches. Switch the transmitter to AM. I'm going to assume the transmitter is turn off as that sound is rather annoying. Turn the transmitter back on after you switch it. (don't forget to switch it back to FM when you done or the collars will not work, and turn the trans. off and on to reset it)

Now get your transistor radio and tune it to the lowest AM frequency. If you have an old walkman that would be ideal, they are small and the earphones help you hear the radio better. Now hold the radio close the wire where it comes out of the house and listen for some noise. If you don't hear anything rotate the radio and check the X, Y and Z axis listening for some noise.

Assuming you hear some noise you can now begin to trace the wire. Follow the wire out from the house until you don't hear anything. In a perfect world that will be where the wire break is. But don't get your hopes up, it's usually never that accurate. If there is no break give the wire a tug and see if it will give. If it does keep pulling until you find the end. Now you've got your break! Lay the wire back on top of the ground in the direction it came from. At the end of that wire is where the other cut end is. Use the radio to find that wire if need be.

If this doesn't work I would highly recommend calling in the professionals! Try not to cut the wire and test like mentioned. Too many splices in a fence weaken the wires integrity and will shorten it's life.

If you need the # for your local dealer please go to www.dogwatch.com

Good Luck!

Matt C.

Update

Matt C, Now this sounds very promising! I feel like slapping my head on the AM thing; makes total sense! (Didn't take the transmitter off the wall the first try!) And you're right that sound is very annoying so the power is off right now. Definitely going to try this. Thank you so very much for your response; I'll let you know how it all works out. Toni

I use an Ethernet cable tester, the one I have is VicTsing® Telephone Wire Tracker Network LAN Ethernet BNC RJ45 RJ11 Cable Tester, available on Amazon. I connect one of the crocodile clips to one end of the fence wire, and run the other crocodile clip to earth (I use another piece of wire and a nail buried in the dirt) and then, using the sensor I can pinpoint the fault by walking along the fence and looking for the point the signal disappears. It is simplicity itself and reasonably cheap.

If the radio didn't work, you are going to have to dig everywhere the wire is and do an inspection with a multimeter every 6 inches or so along the wire, so you can pinpoint the break. Take all safety precautions of course, it depends on the system you have installed. Once you find where the continuity is broken, take it in smaller intervals until you can see the break in the wire/loop. As for fixing the wire, I'm not the best person to ask, as I will probably give you the wrong instructions given the type of wire. It is PROBABLY just like any other repair, but don't quote me on that.

Toni, try this. Get an RF choke from Radio Shack and wire it across the fence terminals in the garage. That makes the remaining wire in the loop radiate a throbbing signal. Then take a portable radio tuned to pick up the throb, and walk the loop slowly. It will weaken where the wire has been nicked, and it will stop where the wire is cut. Hope this helps, good luck.

The answer is: we had to call Dog Watch! It was worth it. It took the rep all of 10 minutes to find two breaks in the loop, (not just one) and maybe another 10 minutes to fix it. Maybe. All for $99.00. Of course, I wish we didn't wait so long. What finally forced the issue was our dog decided to take longer walks too far from our yard. When the neighbors kept calling that was it. Time to call the professionals.

Thanks all for your help. Sorry it took so long to respond with the solution.